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SEDIGISM: The kinematics of ATLASGAL filaments

Mattern, M., Kauffmann, J., Csengeri, T., Urquhart, J.S., Leurini, S., Wyrowski, F., Giannetti, A., Barnes, P.J., Beuther, H., Bronfman, L., and others. (2018) SEDIGISM: The kinematics of ATLASGAL filaments. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 619 . Article Number 166. ISSN 0004-6361. (doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201833406) (KAR id:68758)

Abstract

Analysing the kinematics of filamentary molecular clouds is a crucial step towards understanding their role in the star formation process. Therefore, we study the kinematics of 283 filament candidates in the inner Galaxy, that were previously identified in the ATLASGAL dust continuum data. The 13CO(2 – 1) and C18O(2 – 1) data of the SEDIGISM survey (Structure, Excitation, and Dynamics of the Inner Galactic Inter Stellar Medium) allows us to analyse the kinematics of these targets and to determine their physical properties at a resolution of 30'' and 0.25 km s?1 . To do so, we developed an automated algorithm to identify all velocity components along the line-of-sight correlated with the ATLASGAL dust emission, and derive size, mass, and kinematic properties for all velocity components. We

find two-third of the filament candidates are coherent structures in position-position-velocity space. The remaining candidates appear to be the result of a superposition of two or three filamentary structures along the line-of-sight. At the resolution of the data, on average the filaments are in agreement with Plummer-like radial density profiles with a power-law exponent of p ? 1.5 ± 0.5, indicating that they are typically embedded in a molecular cloud and do not have a well-defined outer radius. Also, we find a correlation between the observed mass per unit length and the velocity dispersion of the filament of m ? ?V^2. We show that this relation can be explained by a virial balance between self-gravity and pressure. Another possible explanation could be radial collapse of the filament, where we can exclude infall motions close to the free-fall velocity.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1051/0004-6361/201833406
Uncontrolled keywords: molecular data – methods: data analysis Stars: formation – ISM: clouds – ISM: kinematics and dynamics – submillimeter: ISM
Subjects: Q Science > QB Astronomy
Q Science > QC Physics
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Physics and Astronomy
Depositing User: James Urquhart
Date Deposited: 21 Aug 2018 15:54 UTC
Last Modified: 04 Mar 2024 18:51 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/68758 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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